Wednesday, December 29, 1999
Portune: Open up on police reviews
Citizens panel should have more say, he says
BY PERRY BROTHERS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati Councilman Todd Portune wants citizens to have more say in police misconduct reviews.
Mr. Portune has asked the city to craft an amendment that would ensure that the Citizens Police Review Panel has an opportunity to review cases before final discipline is given.
“This amendment will correct one of the more glaring problems in the original legislation,” Mr. Portune said. “It's apparent that there is a problem in the legislation that prevents it from operating as we intended it to work.”
Panel members and community groups were outraged when City Manager John Shirey approved final discipline for an officer involved in the fatal March 19 shooting of Michael Carpenter. The panel had just begun its review.
“The police review panel was designed to look at hard cases, such as the Carpenter case,” said Ishton Morton, community liaison for the Cincinnati branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “You can't have a decision given prior to a decision from the police review panel and be effective.”
Mr. Ishton represented the NAACP during the nearly two years of negotiations that prompted council to create the panel in January. The NAACP and other groups, represented by attorney Alphonse A. Gerhardstein, lobbied for an amendment after Mr. Shirey's decision to discipline Officer Brent McCurley for tac tical mistakes in the shooting of Mr. Carpenter.
“We should have never gotten to the situation where we have to submit an amendment,” Mr. Morton said. “We're not going to roll over and play dead. If we have to go back to the (negotiating) table, we will.”
Mr. Shirey has said that in the future, he will wait for the panel's recommendations, but Mr. Ishton and Mr. Gerhardstein want a guarantee in the form of an amendment.
Mr. Portune introduced the motion Monday, asking the city solicitor to draft the amendment based on one Mr. Gerhardstein proposed Dec. 6. Mr. Portune said the proposal likely would come before the Law and Public Safety Committee on Monday. At least one council member said he has reservations.
“There could be situations when the officer's action is so egregious that we want the city manager to act immediately to terminate him,” Councilman Pat DeWine said.
The panel will continue its review of the Michael Carpenter case at its next scheduled meeting at 6 p.m. Jan. 31 in City Hall, 801 Plum St. To file a complaint or for more information about the panel, call 352-2499.
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